Tag: puzzling

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Scary Good Boooks

Scary Good Boooks is a 500-piece puzzle from Cobble Hill.

Who wouldn’t want to spend an evening in this spooky bookstore? I’m curious what section you would start in. I would probably start in Romance and then head down to Dystopian myself, but there are so many good options.

I really enjoyed this one. It was random cut, which I don’t do super often but like every once in a while. The finish feels very smooth and is so nice to run your hands over after finishing the puzzle.

Here are a couple of closeups:

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Sunday Witch

Sunday Witch is a 500-piece puzzle from Trevell, and the artist is Freya Hartas.

This is a delightful, cozy image that was a fun, quick build. I continue to be impressed by the quality of this brand. The colors are so vibrant, and there are so many great details everywhere you look. My favorite part is the little dragon all all curled up on the bed with her and her cats.

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Spooky Curiosities

Spooky Curiosities is a 200-piece puzzle from Ridley’s Games.

A fun start to spooky season with this cute little puzzle filled with all sorts of witchy items. I have a few new Halloween puzzles to do, and then I will probably redo some I have saved from previous years.

I enjoyed this quick puzzle – it definitely got me in the mood for Halloween! They have some other puzzles along these same lines that I might get as well. They are pretty inexpensive, which is nice since they are a smaller piece count.

They come in a small canister, which is a little annoying to store but not too bad.

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Main Street Morning

Main Street Morning is a 300-piece puzzle from Galison, and the artist is Elisabeth Dorrian.

I love this cute scene of people and their dogs enjoying Main Street with all of its shops and activities. I did this with a friend and we really enjoyed it.

It is a bit different from other Galisons I have done – it has oversized pieces with a variety of piece shapes and a smooth matte finish. Up until now, all the puzzles I have done from this brand had only one piece shape and were quite glossy. Very nice!

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Let’s Eat & Cat Icons

I have been wanting to try the brand Happily for a while now and recently got two of their puzzles to do, both 1000 pieces. I really enjoyed the artwork on both of them; it just seems so cheerful and upbeat!

Let’s Eat by Charlotte Martin
Cat Icons by Nia Gould

They are pretty close in cuteness, but Cat Icons edged out Let’s Eat as my favorite by just a bit. I found it easier to get into a flow while piecing that one together, whereas the other one required a bit more pick and place with a lot of looking at the image on the box.

Let’s Eat had a number of false fits on both the border and the interior of the puzzle, but I only encountered that issue on the border for Cat Icons. As much as I liked both of these, I don’t think I will be keeping them because the pieces had a waxy finish that was quite unpleasant to the touch. I know most people probably don’t mind it, but I am very sensitive to textures, so it bothered me.

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Mouse House

Mouse House is a 1000-piece puzzle from Reverie, and the artist is Rose Skelton. It has to be the cutest cutaway puzzle I have ever done! I really enjoy this style of puzzle, and this one is full of adorable details. I think my favorite thing is the family pet – a ladybug named Lady that has her own pet bed and food bowl!

I started out as I usually do, flipping the pieces in trays and pulling out the edges. After I built the edge, I pulled out pieces that stood out to me and partially built two of the rooms. By that point, the pieces were all blending together so I decided to sort the whole puzzle into the different rooms. That turned out to be a good decision as it made the assembly process much more fun.

As always, the quality was fantastic. I am always so impressed with Reveries and am very happy whenever I do one of their puzzles.

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Woody & Buzz

Woody & Buzz are 70-piece puzzles from Yanoman. I was given these adorable mini puzzles from some friends who got them for me as souvenirs of their trip to Japan. The pieces are tiny, but I love the little Woody and Buzz!

They also got me little cases designed to hold the puzzles. They are clear with glitter and have a carabiner so you can attach them to your bag and keep them with you.

I struggled a bit to get the puzzles inside the cases. But then I used Google Translate to read the directions on the packaging and learned that I was supposed to use the backing card and clear sleeve that were included with the puzzle to hold it together. I should have read the directions first – that would have made it much easier to get it in the case!

I really appreciate my friends thinking of me when they were on the other side of the world and bringing me such a sweet gift! Peanut Butter also checked them out and approves!

Here are some additional pics of the packaging and the individual puzzles out of the cases:

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Bubbly Gaze

Bubbly Gaze is a 500-piece puzzle from Olleo, and the artist is FNY. I’m not normally an underwater puzzle person, but this image just spoke to me. I love everything about it.

This was my first full-size puzzle from Olleo, and I am beyond impressed with the quality. The packaging is great – the pieces come in a drawstring cotton bag and a nice size reference poster is included. The pieces have a smooth matte finish and the printing is clear and crisp.

Beyond all of that, the puzzling experience was amazing. The fit of the pieces was great, even on the border, and I could pick out what piece I needed easily due to the unique shapes of the connectors. I was also able to easily see color variations, even on the darkest and lightest pieces. This is in sharp contrast to a puzzle from a different brand I did earlier the same day where the border took until halfway through to figure out and I struggled with finding the right pieces.

I have several more of this brand on my wishlist and am excited to get more of their puzzles in the future.

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Take a Trip with Jeremiah Ketner

Take a Trip with Jeremiah Ketner is a 500-piece puzzle from Heye, and the artist is Jeremiah Ketner. Take a Trip is a series that Heye did where they asked six different artist to add their designs to a section of a road. You can see all six of them on their website.

This is not my usual style, but this was my latest puzzle from Completing the Puzzle. They have recently added this brand and wanted to share it with all of their affiliates. The puzzle was harder than I expected. There were some false fits and I found some of the colors and patterns hard to match up.

Being able to try new-to-me brands is a great feature of a subscription with Completing the Puzzle. It’s no risk since I simply mail the puzzle back when I am done and wait for my next one to arrive.

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Venice Open Market

Venice Open Market is a 1000-piece puzzle from eeBoo, and the artist is Uta Krogmann. I am a big fan of eeBoo puzzles, and this one was no exception. It had several buildings, which are my first love in puzzling, as well as a colorful market scene.

This is my last one with the bigger box – all of the others on my to do shelf have the new smaller boxes.

I also know I have done several puzzles by this artist, so I counted and I have completed six of her puzzles so far!